


Dangerous Experiment

by AgataVarano



Series: Scar [3]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Children, Adoption, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Emotional Hurt, Gen, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Terrorism, Original Character(s), Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Unethical Experimentation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25219936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgataVarano/pseuds/AgataVarano
Summary: After Infinity War (see my Instagram), everything goes back to normality. Or at least it seems like it, because there are more adventures waiting for Lara, as well as some unpleasant discoveries.
Relationships: Stephen Strange & Original Female Character(s), Tony Stark & Original Female Character(s)
Series: Scar [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1826437
Kudos: 4





	Dangerous Experiment

**Author's Note:**

> • English is not my first language, so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes.  
> • For this and more fics, see my Tumblr @/let-me-write-my-life and my Instagram @/agata_varano.

_ I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun. - Skillet (Monster) _

It's been a few months since the events of Infinity War and everything seems back to normal. Lara and Tony are not exactly friends, the two of them don't talk often and never a lot, but always enjoy a call or two once in a while. Lara is okay with that and has gone back to her normal routine: missions against the Agency X, fights in other dimensions with Stephen, some time off to study chemistry and train. Things change when some agents attack the bar Lara is in. Some policemen try to keep everyone away, including Lara, but she avoids them and knocks her "friends" out. Even though Lara runs away before anyone notices her, Fury hears about these events and decides to pay Lara a visit, followed by Tony and Steve. Fury wants Lara to join the Avengers, but she doubts she could help them in any way and lists all of her flaws, including the time she almost killed Tony. "But a while ago you saved me." "Don't make me regret it, Stark." Wong enters the room where the conversation is taking place and reminds Lara about her importance in the team. "If you go, how are we supposed to keep this place going?" "That's because you don't want to wake up in the morning and get a job." "Attachment to the material-" "Is a good excuse to keep me from letting you starve." In the end, Tony convinces Lara to try to work with the Avengers. Lara doesn't really have to meet the team, since she has already seen all of them before. She is afraid she'll have to explain why there are no information about her life between 2010 and 2017, but no one seems to care about the gap in her life's events. The first mission with the Avengers goes better than expected and Lara even manages to make friend with Wanda and Bucky, who occasionally comes pay them a visit. Her first priority is still the Agency X and as soon as Tony finds out about it he encourages Fury to help her. Fury's help roughly translates in letting Lara bring some of the Avengers with her to some of the Agency bases when needed, which wasn't totally necessary but still helps.

It's been a few months since Lara has joined the Avengers. She has just left the Sanctum when Natasha calls to inform her they have found a hidden Agency base not far from Boston. In no time, Lara is ready to fly there, Natasha, Tony, Wanda and Sam following her. When they all get there, the situation seems rather calm. It takes them no more than four hours to clear the first two floors. The informers talked about an interesting project led there, but up to that moment nothing has been found yet. Lara decides to explore the top floor, looking for some officer or maybe scientist, considering there's a big lab on the first floor. There's a big office on the north of the building and Lara is sure there must be something important there. When she opens the door, she finds no more than a dozen agents waiting for her. In no time they're all knocked off. Hidden under a desk, there are two scientists, one of them has blood running down his nose. Lara ties their wrists and starts interrogating them, finding out the project the informers were talking about is the so called Project 58. The scientist with the broken nose seems more eager to talk than his colleague and soon starts saying everything he knows. 

"Project 58 was created in 1983. Mark Feige, the head of the Agency X, wanted to find out whether his spies could get inhuman abilities thanks to radiation. A few years before, one of his scientists had discovered some sort of parallel dimension which was full of an unknown substance. He had called it Substance Y and found out it could modify the structure of matter itself. Feige's idea was to use the Substance on his best spies to make them stronger, faster, more skilled. Then he met Sean Ward and Emily Clarke, two broke but smart scientists. He hired them without a second thought and gave them control over Project 58. In just three months they discovered a new and incredible aspect of Substance Y: it could not only make spies better physically and mentally, it could also give them the power to control atoms, change matter however they wanted, ignoring every law of Physics and Chemistry known to humankind. Feige couldn't believe it, he was the happiest. The Substance was first tested on two volunteers, Sandra and Abraham Houghton. After no more than two hours, they became stronger than every other man or woman alive. But that power came with a price. Sandra went crazy and encouraged Feige to experiment on children too, hoping to create even stronger agents. Unfortunately, or luckily depending on what you think, the Agency had bigger problems at the time and Sandra had to wait a year to see her little son Jonathan and the baby she was still pregnant with become laboratory rats. When her daughter was born, it seemed like the radiation had been ineffective and she was gave up for adoption." 

Lara can't believe what she had just heard, doubts eating her alive. "Tell me that child's name." "Lara." She freezes. Is this the truth? Was she really created by the Agency and then abandoned by her own family? Was her family fake? Was her whole life a lie? And did Frank know about this? Is she really nothing but a monster created in a laboratory? Then anger takes over her. Anger for her biological parents, for the Agency, for Frank, for everyone. She looks at the man with the broken nose. He just nods. His colleague is saying the truth. Lara loses control. She starts destroying everything around her with her bare hands, her eyes filled with rage. The two men scream in terror as she throws a table of laboratory material on the ground and a chair against the wall behind her. Hearing the screams, Tony rushes to the room to find a raging Lara ripping apart a folder of documents. "Is everything alright?" "Does she look alright to you?!" The man with the broken nose screams to Tony. "At least I don't experiment on motherf*cking children!" Lara isn't able to control her emotions anymore, the urge to let go of her powers and burn the whole place to the ground getting stronger. But she holds onto the last piece of her self control and holds back her powers. Tony looks at her in confusion as she walks away, tears coming to her eyes.

Lara is sitting on the edge of the roof, her legs dangling down. Her eyes are pointed at the street beneath her, but her mind is far away, trapped in an endless circle of questions. Yet Lara isn't sure she wants to know the answers. She isn't sure she wants to find out how could her parents abandon her, and for what? Nothing compared to the love a father and a mother should feel for their child. Nothing, but enough for them to abandon her. A voice calling her name brings her back to reality. Tony is sitting next to her, a hand on her shoulder and a worried look on his face. Lara tries to make him leave, but in the end explains him the situation. She feels like a monster, a mixture of chemicals brought to life, she doesn't feel human. She isn't human, not completely. She can't even tell the difference between her and all the test tubes she has just destroyed anymore. Tony looks at her silently as she speaks, his hand resting on her shoulder. "I would love to say I understand how you're feeling… but I don't and I'm sorry for that. I may not understand completely what's going on in your head, but you're not alone. You really are not. I am here, Strange is here, Natasha, Wanda, Bucky, everyone is here for you if you ever need us." Lara takes a deep breath and hugs Tony. She hugs him tightly. She appreciates him being there, she really does. For the first time in almost ten years, she has some sort of physical contact with him. For the first time in almost ten years she feels like she realizes Tony Stark does have a heart, after all.

When she gets back to the Tower, Lara still can't fully understand what is going on. Or maybe she doesn't want to. However, she heads to the lab and stays there for hours, working on whatever comes through her mind, Slipknot blasted in her earpieces. Shutting her thoughts off, she spends something like five or six hours experimenting, running on black coffee and heavy metal. In the end she falls asleep on the counter, somehow cradled by the screams and growls in her ears. Needless to say, she's woken up the following day by Bruce, who is used to sleep-deprived, caffeinated dumbasses.

**Author's Note:**

> ATTENTION: This work has never been updated, unlike the previous two. Also if you're looking for my version of Avengers: Infinity War, it's only on my Instagram.


End file.
